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Purple Cane Road
 
 

Purple Cane Road (Mass Market Paperback)

by James Lee Burke (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Purple Cane Road + Sunset Limited + Jolie Blon's Bounce
Price For All Three: £17.47

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Product details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
  • Publisher: Phoenix; New edition edition (7 Jun 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0752843346
  • ISBN-13: 978-0752843346
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 3.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 16,238 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #4 in  Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Authors, A-Z > B > Burke, James Lee

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Purple Cane Road is proof positive that James Lee Burke is considerably more than a dispenser of tough and atmospheric detective yarns. His central character, Dave Robicheaux, is more than just a powerful addition to a prestigious series. We are dealing here with a stylist of the first order: a writer who has managed to seamlessly marry the hard-boiled idiom of Chandler with the atmosphere and literary elegance of William Faulkner.

Robicheaux is here plunged into his most painful and personal odyssey yet. He learns that his mother, Mae, was a prostitute who ended up drowned in a mud puddle by crooked cops in the pay of the Mob. As Dave and his partner Clete Purcell investigate, they encounter State Governor Belmont Pugh, a fundamentalist preacher; the terrifying Remeta, a super-intelligent hit man, and, most significantly, Jim Gable, owner of the mansion in Purple Cane Road, who knows more about Dave's wife then Dave himself.

As Robicheaux struggles through a morass of intrigue and double-dealing, he finds that coming to terms with his own troubled past becomes as important as identifying the his mother's killers. Burke's strategy is to subtly subvert the standard detective narrative, creating a seamy panoply of the darker side of American society. Alongside the customary imperatives of bloody violence and dangerous sexuality, Burke is able to address such issues as the growing chasm between black and white and the inequalities that have riven American society. He is a storyteller of prodigious ability and his use of language remains nonpareil:

I returned to New Orleans and my problems with pari-mutuel windows and a dark-haired, milk-skinned wife from Martinique who went home with men from the Garden District while I was passed out in a house boat on Lake Pontchartrain, the downdraft of US Army helicopters flattening a plain of elephant grass in my dreams.
--Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

THE INDEPENDENT
'The best in the Detective Dave Robicheaux series.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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91% buy the item featured on this page:
Purple Cane Road 4.5 out of 5 stars (8)
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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Better Entries in the Series, 18 Jul 2004
By Peter Kenney (Birmingham, Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
In PURPLE CANE ROAD Dave Robicheaux is essentially working on two separate cases. He is trying to get enough evidence to stop Letty Labiche's scheduled execution in Angola Penitentiary and at the same time Dave is also hunting for the killers many years ago of his mother, Mae Guillory. The story moves fast with plenty of action and enough colorful characters to keep it interesting. The latter include the usual Burke types such as prostitutes, pimps, a populist politician, corrupt police and just plain hardened criminals. Robicheaux's long-time friend and associate Clete Purcell defies description. We have to look long and hard to find any normal people in this book.

The best part of the story focuses on Robicheaux's search for the killers of his mother. It is here that Burke gives us another glimpse of Robicheaux's complex nature and we learn still more about his troubled past.

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2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The best of the best, 18 Nov 2001
By A Customer
There isn't sufficient time and space to say why James Lee Burke is one of the finest writers in any genre currently active. Suffice to say its partly about his almost poetic use of metaphor, partly about an almost spookily accurate take on the human condition, and partly about that sprinkle of fairy dust which would be worth vast sums of money if you could duplicate and sell it.
For those who love the series, this is at least as good as anything else there. I would say ignore those who get too pedantic about detail and pick holes in character and plot - taken at face value, this is a superb piece of work. Enjoy.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Cajun Classic, 15 Aug 2001
By Mr. S. J. Wade "thebardofb6" (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Read enough off the crime shelves and things get predictable. The authors you return to are those that add the atmosphere, the characters and the style. Burke has an interesting detective with baggage and an amusing side-kick. He has the usual omnipotent threat and a decent plot but the overwhelming joy, is the Southern flavour, with dialogue that has voices warbling poetically, in the head. Fabulous entertainment.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great writer.
I have now read all of the books featuring Dave. I feel I can call him that after our long friendship. Read more
Published 1 month ago by S. Brown

3.0 out of 5 stars James Lee Burke's first major disappointment
I've been reading JLB for 5 years now. I started with The Neon Rain, have read all the Robicheaux books and almost everything else. Read more
Published on 16 Sep 2001

4.0 out of 5 stars Purple Cane Road weaves a passionate tale.
Webmaster & I always eagerly grab Author Burke's latest & hurry home to return to Dave Robicheaux's world of swamps & sunsets, boogie players & lowlifes, an... Read more
Published on 22 April 2001 by Rebecca Brown

5.0 out of 5 stars Dave Robicheaux: a real "Ragin' Cajun"!
One of the best American writers today seems to be James Lee Burke. In "Purple Cane Road," Burke provides us with the latest Dave Robicheaux "Cajun fiction" mystery. Read more
Published on 4 Nov 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars A man at the top of his form
This latest thrilling tale from the master of the genre had me, a devote completely spellbound and absorbed by the text throught. Read more
Published on 9 Aug 2000

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